European Dipper

Description

"Bill shorter that head, slender and compressed throughout, higher that broad at the nostrils, about straight, but seeming to be slightly recurved, owing to a sort of upward tilting of the superior mandible; culmen, notched near the end; gonys convex. Nostrils linear, opening beneath a large scale partly covered with feathers. No rictal vibrissae, nor any trace of bristles or bristle-tipped feathers about the nostrils. Plumage soft, lustreless, remarkably full and compact, water-proof. Body stout, thick set. Habits aquatic." Elliot Coues, 1884